Family Wellbeing Partnership in Clackmannanshire: evaluation
A report on the findings from the evaluation of the Family Wellbeing Partnership (FWP) in Clackmannanshire.
3. STRIVE (Safeguarding Through Rapid Intervention)
3.1 STRIVE context and evolution
STRIVE (Safeguarding through Rapid Intervention) is a council-led, multi-agency team designed to provide timely support to Clackmannanshire’s most vulnerable residents. It brings together staff from local public services - including housing, police, social work, and education - with the core objective of ensuring that every interaction between public services and individuals is an opportunity for early support, thereby preventing crises before they escalate.
Using a whole systems approach to integrated working, STRIVE focuses on proactive, prevention-focused, and coordinated interventions. This collaborative approach helps agencies work together in a cohesive way, addressing complex issues faced by families (in relation to areas such as homelessness, money and benefits, domestic abuse and mental health) holistically and providing person-centred solutions. In the short term, STRIVE aims to prevent crises, reduce reliance on acute social services, and build trust in local services (for example by providing advice regarding homelessness and housing options, or providing access to emergency support from the community mental health team or digital mental health services). In the long term, it seeks to improve outcomes for families and enhance community resilience and wellbeing.
STRIVE complements existing child and adult protection systems in Clackmannanshire. Referrals are made where there are significant welfare concerns that do not require statutory intervention, or are on the cusp of statutory measures, particularly where multiple issues suggest involvement from more than one service or partner agency would be beneficial.
An evaluation of STRIVE in March 2021 by Vanguard Scotland Ltd highlighted its benefits in safeguarding vulnerable individuals.[27] By sharing crucial information early, the evaluation found that STRIVE enables practitioners to "join the dots," providing a comprehensive understanding of vulnerability and better informed coordinated actions. This proactive approach seeks to reduce crisis impact, minimise resource demands, and improve outcomes for individuals and families.
Since its establishment in 2021, STRIVE’s structure and approach have evolved significantly. Initially designed as a co-located team with a full-time project manager, the pandemic necessitated a transition to a dispersed model. By 2024, STRIVE continues to operate as a multi-agency collaboration, with representatives from various sectors working together through daily virtual meetings to address referrals.
Mapping the STRIVE system
Figure 1 provides a visual overview of key partners and stakeholders involved in the STRIVE workstream. Core partners, which are in the centre of the diagram in blue, include Police Scotland, Adult Social Work, Children and Families Social Work, and Housing services in Clackmannanshire. Broader stakeholders, which are in the outer part of the diagram in green, include, among others, the Council’s Adult Support and Protection Committee (a statutory multi-agency body responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 within Clackmannanshire); Change Grow Live (a national voluntary sector organisation that provides support services for people dealing with substance use, homelessness, domestic abuse, and criminal justice involvement); and Resilience Learning Partnership (a social enterprise rooted in trauma-informed practice and co-production). These wider partners are involved with STRIVE in a variety of ways, including referring people to STRIVE for support and helping deliver advice and support to those being supported by STRIVE.
The STRIVE workstream involves a range of core partners, and wider governance, service delivery and community groups:
Core STRIVE stakeholders
- Education
- Police Scotland
- Clackmannanshire Council Housing
- Adult Social Work
- Community Mental Health Team (CMHT)
- STRIVE Board
- Justice Hub
- Children & Families Social Work
- Money Advice Advisor (employed by Housing)
- Police, Fire and Rescue Services
Relevant governance & oversight groups
- Forth Valley Public Protection & Engagement Subgroup
- Adult Support & Protection Committee
- Family Voices Participation Group
- FWP governance groups
Relevant service delivery partners
- Missing Persons Group
- Planet Youth Coalition
- Change Grow Lives (triage service)
- CLG & Transform (drugs and alcohol services)
- Clacks Works
- Clackmannanshire Positive Moves
- Family Support Collaborative (in development)
- Resilience Learning Partnership
Justice Hub community network Through the Justice Hub, STRIVE links into a cluster of five specialist community justice agencies:
- SACRO – Community Justice
- Community Justice Partnership
- Violence Against Women & Girls Partnership
- Women’s Aid
- Non-Court Mandated Caledonian Project
The evaluation of STRIVE was based on the data collected as follows.
Table 6: STRIVE Key data sources
Qualitative interviews with families - 2
FWP staff and stakeholder interviews - 19 in total
Survey responses from wider partners - 15 in total
Case studies - One case study of a family supported by STRIVE, conducted by previous evaluators after time of receipt of support. Selected due to lack of alternative data sources.
Evaluation report - The Safeguarding Through Rapid Intervention Evaluation Report, prepared by Vanguard Scotland
Monitoring data
Analysis of STRIVE case notes from January 2022 to March 2022, (carried out in January 2023 by a previous evaluator)
STRIVE Quarterly Operational Update Reports, November 2023 to July 2024 (data recorded following case closure).
Data Quality
While the data available offers a rich snapshot into the experiences of those accessing STRIVE services, limited conclusions can be drawn about the extent or longevity of STRIVE impacts from the data collected for this workstream.
Quantitative data on the outcomes of STRIVE interventions provided little contextual information and lacked a baseline.
Qualitative data from families was made up of just two interviews and one case study, which limited the scope of findings. However, it is important to recognise the increased vulnerability of STRIVE’s client group in comparison to other FWP workstreams, making interviews more challenging to organise and conduct; hence findings for this workstream draw primarily on interviews with staff associated with STRIVE.